Brachysynodontis batensoda?

YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 18 Jun 2003, 22:39

A young one or something else?

Jools

Post by **Silurus** » 18 Jun 2003, 22:49

I'm inclined to think it's a Synodontis. Will check it up to confirm my hunch.

Post by **Silurus** » 19 Jun 2003, 00:15

I'm almost certain that's a young Synodontis schall.

Post by **Dinyar** » 19 Jun 2003, 02:26

Definitely not B. batensoda. Juvenile S. schall? I don't know about that. We kept a fish that we considered a juvenile S. schall (see Catlog photo below), and it didn't look like this. Our fish was very boisterous, and it got big fast, faster than any other Syno we've kept. It looked to us like S. schall, but we can't be 100% sure.

Dinyar

Post by **Silurus** » 19 Jun 2003, 02:39

Isn't that the fish I identified as S. frontosus?

Post by **Rusty** » 19 Jun 2003, 03:22

Nope, that fish is listed under S. macrops in the Catelog. They do look slightly similar, but not the same species.

Rusty

Post by **Dinyar** » 19 Jun 2003, 05:10

Not very scientific, I know, but I can't visualize the fish in Jools' photo bulking up into a hefty beast like a schall. Despite being a juvenile, it looks like a more delicate species. Maybe it's just that it's a bit starved.

Dinyar

Post by **Silurus** » 19 Jun 2003, 10:24

The drawings of young S. schall in Boulenger are almost identical to the fish in Jools' photo. Evidently, S. schall undergoes a slight change in color pattern as it grows.
The color pattern suggests that it would be one of the deep-bodied, robust species, as that is the body form of all of the uniform gray Synodontis (e.g. S. clarias, S. schall, S. serratus, S. sorex, S. caudovittatus and S. resupinatus).

Post by **Dinyar** » 19 Jun 2003, 13:19

If the photos I've seen have been identified correctly, S. schall exhibits great variation in color pattern, which is also what one would expect given its trans-African distribution. If I was a splitter, I'd consider it an a priori case of suspected multiple species.

Dinyar